Method and apparatus for calibrating a communication device

ABSTRACT

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a computer-readable storage medium having computer instructions to perform actual measurements of one or more performance parameters of a communication device according to a subset of tuning states of a tunable matching network operable in a communication device, determine estimated measurements of the one or more performance parameters of the communication device for a portion of the tuning states not included in the subset of tuning states according to the actual measurements, identify a data set for each of the one or more performance parameters from at least portions of the tuning states and the actual and estimated measurements, and determine from at least a portion of the date sets one or more tuning states that achieve at least one desirable performance characteristic of the communication device. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/547,411 filed Aug. 25, 2009 which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to calibration techniques, andmore specifically to a method and apparatus for calibrating acommunication device.

BACKGROUND

Existing multi-frequency wireless devices (e.g., radios) use an antennastructure that attempts to radiate at optimum efficiency over the entirefrequency range of operation, but can really only do so over a subset ofthe frequencies. Due to size constraints, and aesthetic design reasons,the antenna designer is forced to compromise the performance in some ofthe frequency bands. An example of such a wireless device could be amobile telephone that operates over a range of different frequencies,such as 800 MHz to 2200 MHz. The antenna will not radiate efficiently atall frequencies due to the nature of the design, and the power transferbetween the antenna, the power amplifier, and the receiver in the radiowill vary significantly.

Additionally, an antenna's performance is impacted by its operatingenvironment. For example, multiple use cases exist for radio handsets,which include such conditions as the placement of the handset's antennanext to a user's head, or in the user's pocket or the covering of anantenna with a hand, which can significantly impair wireless deviceefficiency.

Further, many existing radios use a simple circuit composed of fixedvalue components that are aimed at improving the power transfer frompower amplifier to antenna, or from the antenna to the receiver, butsince the components used are fixed in value there is always acompromise when attempting to cover multiple frequency bands andmultiple use cases.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a communication device;

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a portion of a transceiverof the communication device of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3-4 depict illustrative embodiments of a tunable matching networkof the transceiver of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 5-6 depict illustrative embodiments of a tunable reactive elementof the tunable matching network;

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a test environment forconfiguring the communication device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 depicts an exemplary method operating in portions of the testenvironment of FIG. 7;

FIGS. 9-12 depict illustrative embodiments of data sets before and afteran application of a smoothing function;

FIG. 13 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a look-up table utilizedby the communication device for controlling the matching network of thetransceiver of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 14 depicts an exemplary diagrammatic representation of a machine inthe form of a computer system within which a set of instructions, whenexecuted, may cause the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

One embodiment of the present disclosure entails a method to select asubset of tuning states of a tunable matching network operable in acommunication device, wherein the tunable matching network has a tunablereactance that affects one or more performance parameters of thecommunication device, perform actual measurements of the one or moreperformance parameters of the communication device according to thesubset of tuning states, determine estimated measurements of the one ormore performance parameters for a portion of the tuning states notincluded in the subset of tuning states according to the actualmeasurements of the one or more performance parameters, identify a dataset for each of the one or more performance parameters from the tuningstates and the actual and estimated measurements, recognize one or moredesirable performance characteristics of the communication device, anddetermine from at least a portion of the one or more data sets one ormore tuning states of the tunable matching network that achieves the oneor more desirable performance characteristics of the communicationdevice.

One embodiment of the present disclosure entails a computer-readablestorage medium having computer instructions to perform actualmeasurements of one or more performance parameters of a communicationdevice according to a subset of tuning states of a tunable matchingnetwork operable in a communication device, determine estimatedmeasurements of the one or more performance parameters of thecommunication device for a portion of the tuning states not included inthe subset of tuning states according to the actual measurements,identify a data set for each of the one or more performance parametersfrom at least portions of the tuning states and the actual and estimatedmeasurements, and determine from at least a portion of the date sets oneor more tuning states that achieve at least one desirable performancecharacteristic of the communication device.

One embodiment of the present disclosure entails a method to distributea software application by way of an electronic system. The softwareapplication can be operable to perform actual measurements of one ormore performance parameters of a communication device according to asubset of tuning states of a tunable reactive element of a communicationdevice, estimate measurements of the of the one or more performanceparameters for a portion of the tuning states not included in the subsetof tuning states according to at least portions of the actualmeasurements, and determine a multi-dimensional data set for each of theone or more performance parameters from at least portions of the tuningstates and the actual and estimated measurements.

One embodiment of the present disclosure entails a tunable matchingnetwork useable in a communication device having a tunable reactiveelement tuned according to a look-up table. The look-up table can havetuning states that achieve at least one desirable performancecharacteristic of the communication device. The tuning states can bedetermined according to a method to perform actual measurements of oneor more performance parameters of the communication device according toa subset of tuning states of the tunable reactive element, determineestimated measurements of the one or more performance parameters of thecommunication device for a portion of the tuning states not included inthe subset of tuning states according to the actual measurements,identify a data set for each of the one or more performance parametersfrom at least portions of the tuning states and the actual and estimatedmeasurements, and determine from at least a portion of the date sets thetuning states that achieve the at least one desirable performancecharacteristic of the communication device.

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a communication device 100.The communication device 100 can comprise a wireless transceiver 102(herein having independent transmit and receiver sections, a userinterface (UI) 104, a power supply 114, and a controller 106 formanaging operations thereof. The wireless transceiver 102 can utilizeshort-range or long-range wireless access technologies such asBluetooth, WiFi, Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT), orcellular communication technologies, just to mention a few. Cellulartechnologies can include, for example, CDMA-1X, WCDMA, UMTS/HSDPA,GSM/GPRS, TDMA/EDGE, EV/DO, WiMAX, and next generation cellular wirelesscommunication technologies as they arise.

The UI 104 can include a depressible or touch-sensitive keypad 108 witha navigation mechanism such as a roller ball, joystick, mouse, ornavigation disk for manipulating operations of the communication device100. The keypad 108 can be an integral part of a housing assembly of thecommunication device 100 or an independent device operably coupledthereto by a tethered wireline interface (such as a flex cable) or awireless interface supporting for example Bluetooth. The keypad 108 canrepresent a numeric dialing keypad commonly used by phones, and/or aQwerty keypad with alphanumeric keys. The UI 104 can further include adisplay 110 such as monochrome or color LCD (Liquid Crystal Display),OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) or other suitable display technologyfor conveying images to an end user of the communication device 100. Inan embodiment where the display 110 is a touch-sensitive display, aportion or all of the keypad 108 can be presented by way of the display.

The power supply 114 can utilize common power management technologies(such as replaceable batteries, supply regulation technologies, andcharging system technologies) for supplying energy to the components ofthe communication device 100 to facilitate portable applications. Thecontroller 106 can utilize computing technologies such as amicroprocessor and/or digital signal processor (DSP) with associatedstorage memory such a Flash, ROM, RAM, SRAM, DRAM or other liketechnologies.

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a portion of the wirelesstransceiver 102 of the communication device 100 of FIG. 1. In GSMapplications, the transmit and receive portions of the transceiver 102can include common amplifiers 201, 203 coupled to a tunable matchingnetwork 202 and an impedance load 206 by way of a switch 204. The load206 in the present illustration can an antenna as shown in FIG. 1(herein antenna 206). A transmit signal in the form of a radio frequency(RF) signal (TX) can be directed to the amplifier 201 which amplifiesthe signal and directs the amplified signal to the antenna 206 by way ofthe tunable matching network 202 when switch 204 is enabled for atransmission session. The receive portion of the transceiver 102 canutilize a pre-amplifier 203 which amplifies signals received from theantenna 206 by way of the tunable matching network 202 when switch 204is enabled for a receive session. Other configurations of FIG. 2 arepossible for other types of cellular access technologies such as CDMA.These undisclosed configurations are contemplated by the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 3-4 depict illustrative embodiments of the tunable matchingnetwork 202 of the transceiver 102 of FIG. 2. In one embodiment, thetunable matching network 202 can comprise a control circuit 302 and atunable reactive element 310. The control circuit 302 can comprise aDC-to-DC converter 304, one or more digital to analog converters (DACs)306 and one or more corresponding buffers 308 to amplify the voltagegenerated by each DAC. The amplified signal can be fed to one or moretunable reactive components 504, 506 and 508 such as shown in FIG. 5,which depicts a possible circuit configuration for the tunable reactiveelement 310. In this illustration, the tunable reactive element 310includes three tunable capacitors 504-508 and an inductor 502 with afixed inductance. Other circuit configurations are possible, and therebycontemplated by the present disclosure.

The tunable capacitors 504-508 can each utilize technology that enablestunability of the capacitance of said component. One embodiment of thetunable capacitors 504-508 can utilize voltage or current tunabledielectric materials such as a composition of barium strontium titanate(BST). An illustration of a BST composition is the Parascan® TunableCapacitor. In another embodiment, the tunable reactive element 310 canutilize semiconductor varactors. Other present or next generationmethods or material compositions that can support a means for a voltageor current tunable reactive element are contemplated by the presentdisclosure.

The DC-to-DC converter 304 can receive a power signal such as 3 Voltsfrom the power supply 114 of the communication device 100 in FIG. 1. TheDC-to-DC converter 304 can use common technology to amplify this powersignal to a higher range (e.g., 30 Volts) such as shown. The controller106 can supply digital signals to each of the DACs 306 by way of acontrol bus of “n” or more wires to individually control the capacitanceof tunable capacitors 504-508, thereby varying the collective reactanceof the tunable matching network 202. The control bus can be implementedwith a two-wire common serial communications technology such as a SerialPeripheral Interface (SPI) bus. With an SPI bus, the controller 106 cansubmit serialized digital signals to configure each DAC in FIG. 3 or theswitches of the tunable reactive element 404 of FIG. 4. The controlcircuit 302 of FIG. 3 can utilize common digital logic to implement theSPI bus and to direct digital signals supplied by the controller 106 tothe DACs.

In another embodiment, the tunable matching network 202 can comprise acontrol circuit 402 in the form of a decoder and a tunable reactiveelement 404 comprising switchable reactive elements such as shown inFIG. 6. In this embodiment, the controller 106 can supply the controlcircuit 402 signals via the SPI bus which can be decoded with commonBoolean or state machine logic to individually enable or disable theswitching elements 602. The switching elements 602 can be implementedwith semiconductor switches or micro-machined switches such as utilizedin micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). By independently enabling anddisabling the reactive elements (capacitor or inductor) of FIG. 6 withthe switching elements 602, the collective reactance of the tunablereactive element 404 can be varied.

The tunability of the tunable matching networks 202, 204 provides thecontroller 106 a means to optimize performance parameters of thetransceiver 102 such as, for example, but not limited to, transmitterpower, transmitter efficiency, receiver sensitivity, power consumptionof the communication device, a specific absorption rate (SAR) of energyby a human body, frequency band performance parameters, and so on. Toachieve one or more desirable performance characteristics which adesigner can define, the communication device 100 can be placed in ananechoic chamber 706 such as depicted by FIG. 7. In this configuration,the designer can perform calibration measurements of performanceparameters of the communication device 100 such as Total Radiated Power(TRP), Total Isotropic Sensitivity (TIS) or Radiated Harmonicsmeasurements, receiver efficiency, transmit power efficiency, and powerconsumption, just to mention a few. For a multi-frequency bandcommunication device 100, the calibration measurements can be performedper band or per sub-band.

Additionally, the calibration measurements can be performed under anumber of use cases of the communication device 100 utilizing a phantombody that emulates the composition of a human body. For instance, acommunication device 100 having a housing assembly of a flip design, thecommunication device 100 can be placed next to an ear of the phantomwhen the flip is open to emulate a typical conversational use case. In ahands-free application such when a user utilizes a Bluetooth headset orwhen the communication device 100 is in standby mode, the communicationdevice 100 can be placed on a hip of the phantom with the flip closed.Calibration can be performed on other use cases such as antenna up, ordown, speakerphone feature “ON” with communication device 100 held witha phantom hand but away from the phantom head. Any number of use casescan be applied to each frequency band and sub-band if desirable.

As depicted in FIG. 7, a computer 702 can be communicatively coupled tothe communication device 100 located in the anechoic chamber by way of aBluetooth to USB adapter with coaxial connection. The computer 702 canalso be communicatively coupled to a communications system analyzer 704(which can place and receive active “phone calls” to a cellular handset)which is also connected to the anechoic chamber by way of coaxial cableconnection. The computer 702 can control the communications systemanalyzer 704 and the tunable matching network 202 of FIG. 2. Control ofthe communication device 100 can conform to a Bluetooth Serial PortProfile (SPP) which provides the computer 702 a means to send testcommands, control DAC settings, or switch settings by way of controlcircuits 302 or 402 of FIG. 3 or 4. Although not shown, the calibrationenvironment of FIG. 7 can include additional test equipment that canmeasure power consumption of the communication device 100, SAR,harmonics or other useful performance parameters. Accordingly, anymeasurable performance parameter of the communication device 100 iscontemplated by the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 depicts an exemplary method 800 operating in portions of the testenvironment of FIG. 7. Method 800 can begin with the computer 702directing the operations of the communication device 100 and theconfiguration of the tunable matching network 202 to perform actualmeasurements of one or more performance parameters (e.g., TX power, RXsensitivity via received signal strength indication or RSSI, powerconsumption, and so on) of the communication device 100. Suppose forinstance that tunable matching network 202 includes three DACs eachhaving thirty-two configurable output voltages ranging from 0 to 3 Voltsas shown in FIG. 3. Three DACs would provide 32,768 (32*32*32)combination of voltages which can be supplied to the three tunablecapacitors 504-508 of FIG. 5. Assume further that the transceiver 102supports 4 bands for world travel, and the designer of the communicationdevice 100 would like to test 3 use cases per band. Under theseconditions, the designer would have to perform 393,216 calibrationmeasurements for each performance parameter of interest, which couldlead to millions of measurements.

Step 802, however, can be adapted to perform a subset of the possibletuning states of the DACs 306. For example, the computer 702 can beadapted to perform calibration measurements for five tuning states ofeach DAC. Under these constraints, the calibration measurements can belimited to 125 (5*5*5) calibration measurements for each performanceparameter of interest. If one includes 4 bands and 3 use cases, then thetotal calibration measurements can amount to 1500 measurements, which isobviously substantially less than a full sweep of calibrationmeasurements.

For illustration purposes only, the tuning matching network 202 asdepicted in FIG. 3 will be assumed to have only two DACs, each capableof 20 tunable levels. It is further assumed that a subset of 5 tuningstates is used for step 802. With this in mind, FIG. 9 depicts a dataset of 25 calibration measurements of receive sensitivity data based onRSSI measurements. The graph of FIG. 9 illustrates 1 dB contour bands.As should be evident from FIG. 9, contour bands 902-914 are not smooth.The jagged bands occur for two reasons. First, the RSSI data points areinaccurate because the communication device 100 can only providenon-fractional RSSI data. Second, the missing tuning states create astep effect which creates additional jagged edges between contour bands.

In step 804, the computer 702 can be adapted to apply a commonmathematical fitting function g(v1, v2, . . . ) to model systemperformance for the portion of tuning states not included in the subsetof step 802. The fitting function can also reduce inaccuracies in theRSSI data. The fitting function can be a 3^(rd) or 4^(th) order functionthat utilizes a common regression algorithm to interpolate between theactual measurements derived from step 802. For illustration purposes,what follows is a sample 3^(rd) order fitting function:

c1+c2x+c3y+c4x²+c5y²c6xy+c7xy²+c8x²y+c9x³+c10y³

Constants c1-c10 can be adapted through an iterative process to performa third order fitting function. Other fitting functions are contemplatedby the present disclosure. FIG. 10 depicts the result of applying thefitting function to the RSSI data set of FIG. 9. As should be evidentfrom FIG. 10, the 1 dB contour bands 1002-1012 have been substantiallysmoothed to more accurately reflect the actual RSSI measurements and toestimate the RSSI measurements which would have been measured for thetuning states of the DACs 1 and 2 which were not included in the subsetof step 802.

FIG. 11 depicts an illustration of a data set for transmit powermeasurements performed with the subset of tuning states used in step802. The 1 dB contour bands 1102-1120 for this illustration are lessjagged than the contour bands 902-914 of FIG. 9 because the TX powermeasurement is derived from the network analyzer which can providefractional results to the computer 702. FIG. 12 depicts the data setresulting from the application of the above fitting function in step804. As should be evident in this illustration, the fitting functiongenerates smoother contour bands 1202-1220 when compared to the contourbands 1102-1120 of FIG. 11.

Once the data sets for each performance parameter (e.g., RX sensitivity,TX power, etc.) have been fitted in step 804 over the entire tuningstates of DACs 1 and 2, the computer 702 can be adapted with computersoftware to proceed to step 806 where it can present the designer of thecommunication device 100 options to define desired figures of merit(FOMs) which can be used to determine tuning states that provide optimalsolutions for the desired FOMs. An FOM can represent, for example, adesired power transmit efficiency (TX power over battery power drain).FOMs can also represent “keep out” areas where optimal performance maynot be desirable. FOMs can also mathematically combine performanceparameters (e.g., TX power+RX power).

Once the designer has defined one or more desirable performancecharacteristics of the communication device 100 in the form of FOMs, thecomputer 702 can be adapted in step 808 to find a range of tuning statesthat achieve the desired FOMs by sweeping with a common mathematicalmodel in fine increments to find global optimal performance with respectto the desired FOMs. The computer 702 can be adapted in step 810 topresent the user the range of tuning states that achieve the desiredFOMs on a per band and per use case basis. The user can select in step812 portions of the tuning states for storage in a look-up table whichcan be utilized by the communication device 100 during operation. FIG.13 depicts an illustration of a look-up table which can be indexed bythe controller 106 of the communication device 100 of FIG. 1 duringoperation according to band, and use case.

During normal operation by consumers, the communication device 100 candetect a number of possible use cases for the device. For instance, thecommunication device 100 can detect that the consumer has invoked a callor has answered a called based on the state of call processing softwareoperating in the communication device 100. The call processing softwareoperating in the communication device 100 can also detect which band orsub-band is being used for the active call. The communication device 100can further detect that a flip housing assembly has been opened with acommon electro-mechanical sensor.

The communication device 100 can also detect from the call processingsoftware that a Bluetooth headset feature, and a speakerphone featureare disabled while a communication session is taking place. Thecommunication device 100 can also detect with a commonelectro-mechanical sensor whether an antenna has been raised or is inthe closed position. The communication device 100 can also detect with aproximity sensor and/or an orientation sensor (e.g., an accelerometer)whether the device is near a body part of the user, and whether thedevice is in a horizontal or vertical position.

There are innumerable detectable use cases that are contemplated by thepresent disclosure. These detectable states in whole or in part canprovide the communication device 100 a means to predict a likelihood ofany number of use cases. Once a user case is detected, the communicationdevice 100 can index through the look-up table of FIG. 13 according tothe frequency band (or sub-band) and the use case to identify adesirable tuning state of the tunable matching network 202 of FIG. 2that causes the communication device 100 to operate in a desirablemanner contemplated by the designer of said communication device 100.

From the foregoing descriptions, it would be evident to an artisan withordinary skill in the art that the aforementioned embodiments can bemodified, reduced, or enhanced without departing from the scope andspirit of the claims described below. For example, FIGS. 1-7 and method800 of FIG. 8 can be adapted to be used for calibrating a tunablematching network of a wireline transceiver. Method 800 can be applied toinnumerable combinations of use cases, bands, sub-sets of bands, andother performance parameters which have not been addressed in thepresent disclosure. These undisclosed combinations are contemplated bythe present disclosure.

Other suitable modifications can be applied to the present disclosure.Accordingly, the reader is directed to the claims for a fullerunderstanding of the breadth and scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 14 depicts an exemplary diagrammatic representation of a machine inthe form of a computer system 1400 within which a set of instructions,when executed, may cause the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed above. In some embodiments, the machine operatesas a standalone device. In some embodiments, the machine may beconnected (e.g., using a network) to other machines. In a networkeddeployment, the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or aclient user machine in server-client user network environment, or as apeer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment.

The machine may comprise a server computer, a client user computer, apersonal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a laptop computer, a desktopcomputer, a control system, a network router, switch or bridge, or anymachine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. It will beunderstood that a device of the present disclosure includes broadly anyelectronic device that provides voice, video or data communication.Further, while a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shallalso be taken to include any collection of machines that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

The computer system 1400 may include a processor 1402 (e.g., a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU, or both), a mainmemory 1404 and a static memory 1406, which communicate with each othervia a bus 1408. The computer system 1400 may further include a videodisplay unit 1410 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), a flat panel, asolid state display, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)). The computer system1400 may include an input device 1412 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursorcontrol device 1414 (e.g., a mouse), a disk drive unit 1416, a signalgeneration device 1418 (e.g., a speaker or remote control) and a networkinterface device 1420.

The disk drive unit 1416 may include a machine-readable medium 1422 onwhich is stored one or more sets of instructions (e.g., software 1424)embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions describedherein, including those methods illustrated above. The instructions 1424may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the mainmemory 1404, the static memory 1406, and/or within the processor 1402during execution thereof by the computer system 1400. The main memory1404 and the processor 1402 also may constitute machine-readable media.

Dedicated hardware implementations including, but not limited to,application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arrays andother hardware devices can likewise be constructed to implement themethods described herein. Applications that may include the apparatusand systems of various embodiments broadly include a variety ofelectronic and computer systems. Some embodiments implement functions intwo or more specific interconnected hardware modules or devices withrelated control and data signals communicated between and through themodules, or as portions of an application-specific integrated circuit.Thus, the example system is applicable to software, firmware, andhardware implementations.

In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure, themethods described herein are intended for operation as software programsrunning on a computer processor. Furthermore, software implementationscan include, but not limited to, distributed processing orcomponent/object distributed processing, parallel processing, or virtualmachine processing can also be constructed to implement the methodsdescribed herein.

The present disclosure contemplates a machine readable medium containinginstructions 1424, or that which receives and executes instructions 1424from a propagated signal so that a device connected to a networkenvironment 1426 can send or receive voice, video or data, and tocommunicate over the network 1426 using the instructions 1424. Theinstructions 1424 may further be transmitted or received over a network1426 via the network interface device 1420.

While the machine-readable medium 1422 is shown in an example embodimentto be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” should betaken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralizedor distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) thatstore the one or more sets of instructions. The term “machine-readablemedium” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable ofstoring, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by themachine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies of the present disclosure.

The term “machine-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken toinclude, but not be limited to: solid-state memories such as a memorycard or other package that houses one or more read-only (non-volatile)memories, random access memories, or other re-writable (volatile)memories; magneto-optical or optical medium such as a disk or tape;and/or a digital file attachment to e-mail or other self-containedinformation archive or set of archives is considered a distributionmedium equivalent to a tangible storage medium. Accordingly, thedisclosure is considered to include any one or more of amachine-readable medium or a distribution medium, as listed herein andincluding art-recognized equivalents and successor media, in which thesoftware implementations herein are stored.

Although the present specification describes components and functionsimplemented in the embodiments with reference to particular standardsand protocols, the disclosure is not limited to such standards andprotocols. Each of the standards for Internet and other packet switchednetwork transmission (e.g., TCP/IP, UDP/IP, HTML, HTTP) representexamples of the state of the art. Such standards are periodicallysuperseded by faster or more efficient equivalents having essentiallythe same functions. Accordingly, replacement standards and protocolshaving the same functions are considered equivalents.

The illustrations of embodiments described herein are intended toprovide a general understanding of the structure of various embodiments,and they are not intended to serve as a complete description of all theelements and features of apparatus and systems that might make use ofthe structures described herein. Many other embodiments will be apparentto those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. Otherembodiments may be utilized and derived therefrom, such that structuraland logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing fromthe scope of this disclosure. Figures are also merely representationaland may not be drawn to scale. Certain proportions thereof may beexaggerated, while others may be minimized Accordingly, thespecification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative ratherthan a restrictive sense.

Such embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be referred toherein, individually and/or collectively, by the term “invention” merelyfor convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope ofthis application to any single invention or inventive concept if morethan one is in fact disclosed. Thus, although specific embodiments havebeen illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that anyarrangement calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substitutedfor the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to coverany and all adaptations or variations of various embodiments.Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments notspecifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in theart upon reviewing the above description.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader toquickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It issubmitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpretor limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in theforegoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features aregrouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamliningthe disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require morefeatures than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as thefollowing claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than allfeatures of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims arehereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claimstanding on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.

What is claimed is:
 1. A communication device, comprising: an antenna; atransceiver; a tunable matching network coupled with the antenna and thetransceiver, the tunable matching network including at least onevariable reactance element; a memory to store instructions; and aprocessor coupled to the memory, wherein execution of the instructionsby the processor causes the processor to perform operations comprising:selecting a subset of tuning states for the tunable matching network;performing actual measurements of a plurality of performance parametersof the communication device according to the subset of tuning states;determining estimated measurements of the plurality of performanceparameters for at least a portion of the tuning states not included inthe subset of tuning states based on the actual measurements of theplurality of performance parameters; identifying data sets for theplurality of performance parameters from the subset of tuning states andthe actual and estimated measurements; and determining from the datasets one or more tuning states of the tunable matching network thatachieves a performance characteristic of the communication device. 2.The communication device of claim 1, wherein the estimated measurementsare determined using regression analysis of the actual measurements ofthe plurality of performance parameters, and wherein the plurality ofperformance parameters include at least one of total radiated power ortotal isotropic sensitivity.
 3. The communication device of claim 1,wherein each of the data sets has at least two independent variables,and wherein the plurality of performance parameters include at least oneof transmitter power, transmitter efficiency, receiver sensitivity,power consumption of the communication device, a specific absorptionrate, total radiated power, total isotropic sensitivity or radiatedharmonics measurements.
 4. The communication device of claim 3, whereinthe at least two independent variables correspond to a combination of atleast portions of the tuning states.
 5. The communication device ofclaim 1, wherein the tunable matching network comprises a switchableelement that enables or disables at least one fixed reactance element.6. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the determined one ormore tuning states are stored in a look-up table in the memory, andwherein the performance characteristic includes transmit power andreceive power.
 7. The communication device of claim 1, wherein thetransceiver is operable at a plurality of frequency bands and aplurality of use cases, and wherein the determining of the one or moretuning states is based on at least one of the plurality of frequencybands and at least one of the plurality of use cases.
 8. Thecommunication device of claim 7, wherein the plurality of use cases aredetermined from a plurality of operational states of the communicationdevice.
 9. The communication device of claim 8, wherein the plurality ofoperational states correspond to at least two of a group of operationalstates comprising a state of use of the antenna of the communication, astate of use of a speakerphone feature of the communication, a state ofuse of a multi-configurable housing assembly of the communicationdevice, a state of use of a hands-free feature of the communicationdevice, and a state of a detectable proximity of a user to thecommunication device.
 10. A method, comprising: obtaining, by a systemincluding a processor, a measurement of a performance parameter of acommunication device according to a subset of tuning states of a tunablereactive element of the communication device, wherein the performanceparameter is associated with a receive mode and a transmit mode of thecommunication device; estimating, by the system, a measurement for theperformance parameter for at least a portion of the subset of tuningstates not included in the subset of tuning states according toregression analysis applied to at least portions of the obtainedmeasurement; determining, by the system, a multi-dimensional data setfor the performance parameter from at least portions of the tuningstates, the obtained measurement and the estimated measurement; andenabling a user selection of at least a subset of the tuning states forstorage in a look-up table which can be used by the communication devicefor tuning the tunable reactive element while the communication deviceis in operation.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the performanceparameter includes transmitter power, and wherein the regressionanalysis is at least of a fourth order.
 12. The method of claim 10,wherein the performance parameter includes total radiated power.
 13. Themethod of claim 10, wherein the performance parameter includes receiversensitivity.
 14. The method of claim 10, wherein the performanceparameter includes radiated harmonics measurements.
 15. The method ofclaim 10, wherein the performance parameter includes transmitterefficiency.
 16. The method of claim 10, wherein the performanceparameter includes total isotropic sensitivity.
 17. The method of claim10, wherein the performance parameter includes power consumption of thecommunication device.
 18. The method of claim 10, wherein theperformance parameter includes radiated harmonics measurements.
 19. Acommunication device, comprising: an antenna; a transceiver; a tunablematching network coupled with the antenna and the transceiver, whereinthe tunable matching network comprises at least one of a first tunablereactance circuit having at least one tunable reactive element, or asecond tunable reactance circuit having at least one switchable elementthat enables or disables at least one fixed reactance element; a memoryto store instructions; and a processor coupled to the memory, whereinexecution of the instructions by the processor causes the processor toperform operations comprising: retrieving actual measurements of aperformance parameter of the communication device according to a subsetof tuning states of the tunable matching network; determining estimatedmeasurements of the performance parameter for at least a portion of thetuning states not included in the subset of tuning states based on theactual measurements; identifying data sets for the performance parameterfrom at least portions of the tuning states and the actual and estimatedmeasurements; and determining from at least a portion of the data setstuning states that achieve a performance characteristic of thecommunication device.
 20. The communication device of claim 19, whereineach of the data sets has at least two independent variables, whereinthe performance parameter is associated with a receive mode and atransmit mode of the communication device, and wherein the estimatedmeasurements are determined according to a regression analysis of theactual measurements.